1 Practicing Resurrection W. Danaher 4th Class Introduction/Review: Looking at Lent as a Journey from Death to Life The Season of Lent is often viewed as a journey in which we are saved from our sins. Last Sunday, we began Lent by revisiting Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, and we were invited in the Collect for that day (the summary prayer at the beginning of the Liturgy) to recognize the “weaknesses of each of us.” As we make our way in Lent, our Collect trace out a particular path of transformation: penance (BCP Collect for the Second Sunday of Lent), renewal (BCP Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent), refreshment (BCP Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent), and grace (BCP Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent). By doing so, our liturgies follow a well-worn path and assign to us traditional readings that have been followed for many years. The goal of these readings is to point us in the direction of the Atonement -- on what it takes for us to be made right with God, which Christians believe happened at the crucifixion, when Jesus died for our sins on the cross. On the cross, Jesus offered a sacrifice, or prayer, that we could not offer on our behalf so that we would find forgiveness for all the ways that we have been less than who God created us to be. On the cross, Jesus defeated the power of death, died for our sins, and showed us God’s infinite love for us. However, I believe there is another way to go through Lent, which has been obscured by this familiar path. This way looks at Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem not as a walk from life to death, but as journey from death to life. In this journey, the Resurrection is not a reward or surprise-ending waiting to appear after Jesus has died, and all seems lost, but as a reality that begins to emerge as Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem. Therefore, Jesus is not so much walking to his death, but walking to his life. And this is good news for us, because in the process, Jesus is revealing to us what it means to live as if death were not the end. To say a bit more about some key Christian practices: • Loving: This means that every moment that we love, our love goes with the grain of the universe. Our love is a participation in God’s love. Every act of love is an expression of the love that is stronger than death. • Forgiving: This means that we forgive not simply because Jesus has forgiven us, but because our forgiveness participates in God’s infinite power to reconcile all things. Our forgiveness is the work of Christ’s forgiveness in us, Christ’s resurrection power in us. 2 • Giving: This means that when we give ourselves to others, we participate in what Christ is always already giving us. That is to say, Jesus’s death on the cross does not exhaust all of what Christ has given to God, or sacrificed, on our behalf. Rather, Jesus is continuing to pour his sacrificial love on us and our world each day. As a result, when we give ourselves away, we are not losing ourselves but gaining ourselves. • Living: This means that our life is found in the relationships we build rather than in the achievements we attain. It means that a central part of what it means to be a Christian is to learn how to die in order to learn how to live. It also means that in God’s economy of grace, nothing is wasted. There is no excess or defect in what God has made. There is no moment or event that will not be reconciled and transformed by grace. Therefore, everything that happens to us not only happens for a reason, but we begin to practice the power of resurrection in our lives when we use the different ways that we have experienced death as a means to life. I. Opening Poem Torn let’s break ourselves open let our insides out the tender parts we hide and protect the heart was never meant to shelter in place it heals by bleeding II. Matthew 28:1-20 – Resurrection as Mission Tonight, we will look at Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’ Resurrection: After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,[b] and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” 3 11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests[c] had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[d] III. Resurrection as the Completion of the Incarnation Matthew’s Gospel draws heavily from the Gospel of Mark, which was written earlier. One can see images and even language from Mark that Matthew wove into his larger and more elaborate gospel. As we noted last week, Mark’s Gospel is marked by the oral traditions about Jesus that informed it. This orality shapes the way Matthew tells his story of the Resurrection of Jesus as a living reality that pivots around the empty tomb. The first few lines of Matthew basically repeat the Gospel of Mark’s ending with little variation. Then, after seeing the empty tomb and hearing the angel’s proclamation, Matthew depicts Jesus as appearing to the women. We read: Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” So begins a second way of speaking about Jesus’ resurrection. Instead of bearing witness to the “empty tomb”, Matthew writes about Jesus “appearing.” In the Gospels of Luke and John, these appearances will be written about in more elaborate ways. In these gospels, instead of Galilee, Jesus will appear to his disciples in and around Jerusalem – on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13- 35) and in Jerusalem itself (John 20:1-30). For some New Testament scholars, this means that the early church had both an “empty tomb” tradition and an “appearance” tradition as independent, oral traditions within the early Christian church. However, I want to suggest that both the empty tomb and the appearance hold together in Matthew’s Gospel, because Matthew’s prime intent is to speak about the Resurrection as the completion of Christ’s Incarnation. 4 That is to say, at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel (1:23), the angel Gabriel proclaims to Joseph, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” The root of this prophesy is Isaiah 7:14, which reads: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman[a] is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. One reason Matthew did so is to “prove” that Jesus fulfilled the prophesies in the Hebrew Bible concerning the Messiah, and throughout his Gospel, you will find sixteen moments where Matthew argues that Jesus “fulfilled” (Gk: Pleroo) the Scriptures. For example, he writes in chapter 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Some argue that the reason Matthew was so concerned to show these connections is that there was conflict between the Jewish-Christian community and the Jewish community that refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.